This invention provides a retrofittable emergency barricade system to be used in conjunction with windowed school doors. This system closes off the line of sight and prevents entry and attack into the room through the door window, while also barring the door itself closed to entry in a manner not wholly dependent on door lock or hinge integrity.
In the United States, a school door is typically a door with a small vertical window at head height. The school window is shutterless and the door typically opens inward. The window on the door is a safety measure allowing the room to be checked while being used during the daily operation of the school. However, in the case of an active school shooter, the window becomes a danger. Suddenly, locking the door is not enough to prevent harm to the room, as a shooter may see the room filled with people or a specific person they are targeting through the window and be motivated to breach the window to reach the lock or to otherwise compromise the integrity of the lock. For instance, the Parkland, Fla. shooter at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shot through the windows at fellow students. Clearly, merely providing a barrier to entry, although important, is not enough to protect students in the case of a school shooting. Any barrier system must present an effective barrier, taking not only the door into account but the door window as well. It must not interfere with normal use of the door, and because of the quickness in which a situation can arise and the varying physical ability of the teachers and students inside the room, an effective barrier system must be quick and easy to operate across a high range of physical abilities without much forethought by the operator beforehand.
An emergency barricade system used as a barrier to prevent school shootings should be ballistic resistant. Although ballistic resistance varies, Underwriters Laboratories (UL), an independent standards developer and audited designator accredited by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), has defined eight levels of ballistic resistance for ballistic resistant products. Level 1 material survives at least three shots of 9 mm Full Metal Copper Jacket with Lead Core ammunition fired at up to 1293 feet per second. Level 2 material survives at least three shots with 158 grain 0.356 Magnum Jacket Soft Lead Point ammunition fired at up to 1375 feet per second. Level 3 material survives at least three shots of 240 grain 0.44 Magnum Lead Semi-Wadcutter Gas Checked ammunition fired at up to 1485 feet per second. Level 3 material is considered suitable for providing safety in industries susceptible to armed robberies such as banks and credit unions as it provides protection up to the level of resisting 0.44 magnum handguns. Level 4 material survives at least one shot of 180 grain 0.30 Caliber Rifle Lead Core Soft Point (0.30-06 Caliber) ammunition fired at up to 2794 feet per second. Level 5 material survives at least one shot of 150 grain 7.62 mm Rifle Lead Core Full Metal Copper Jacket, Military Ball (0.308 Caliber) ammunition fired up to 3025 feet per second. Level 6 material survives five shots of 124 grain 9 mm Full Metal Copper Jacket with Lead Core ammunition fired at up to 1540 feet per second. Level 7 material survives five shots of 55 grain 5.56 mm Rifle Full Metal Copper Jacket with Lead Core (0.223 Caliber) ammunition fired at up to 3388 feet per second. Level 8 material survives five shots of 150 grain 7.62 Rifle Lead Core Full Metal Copper Jacket, Military Ball (0.308 Caliber) ammunition fired at up to 3025 feet per second. Thus, the levels are determined by a mix of factors including ammunition type, feet-per-second, weight, and number of shots. A minimum of Underwriters Lab (UL) level 3 or an equivalent from a nationally accredited and audited designator should be provided in providing ballistic resistance to deter school shooters.
Although there are some barricade systems that were developed for use in schools for preventing intruder access through the door, the Parkland, Fla. shooter demonstrated the flaws in these systems by both identifying targets and shooting through windows. The previous systems rely on lock hinge or hinge integrity entirely or do not address the shooter's use of door windows and thus are not truly effective barriers to school shooters.
For example, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2016/0281416 was published on Sep. 29, 2016. Applicant DAW Technologies, LLC applied for “Classroom Retrofit Barriers,” as conceptualized by inventor Peter J. Spansy. Here, a ballistic door providing barrier-of-entry shielding blocks a doorway in certain emergency situations to shield against active shooters, while not inhibiting, impeding or changing the safe egress through the ballistic door. A ballistic assembly may be secured to the non-threat side of an existing door, by retrofit installation or by new construction installation. The ballistic assembly has a ballistic skin, a top ballistic skin clamp, and a bottom ballistic skin clamp. The top and bottom ballistic skin clamps secure the ballistic skin against the non-threat side of the door. The ballistic door has at least a N.I.J. Level IIIA of protection against gunfire. More particularly, it is disclosed that the classroom ballistic barriers provide barrier-of-entry shielding that may be retrofit to the existing classroom door by the school's own maintenance staff and will not inhibit emergency exits through the door. The system and method combine a minimally-thick ballistic skin with a solid-core wood as is typically used as a classroom door to create a shield equivalent to a N.I.J. Level IIIA ballistic panel. Hence, it is possible to retrofit a relatively thin ballistic skin onto an existing door to provide protection against multiple 0.44 magnum and 9 mm handgun blasts, as well as multiple 12-gauge shot gun blasts. The ballistic skin may comprise ballistic fiberglass reinforced plastic (FRP) material. For N.I.J. Level IIIA protection, the door and ballistic skin combination, constituting the ballistic door, must stop five rounds from a 0.44 magnum or five rounds from a 9 mm handgun within a 12″×12″ square shot 16 feet 4 inches away, with no penetrations. Normally, to achieve N.I.J. Level IIIA protection with this type of material, it would require a minimum of a ½″ thickness of FRP. Because FRP material weighs approximately 6 pounds per square foot, providing that thickness would add too much weight to the door, would make it difficult for a single maintenance person to install, and would add unnecessary cost. However, by applying the ballistic skin 18 of a ¼″ thickness to an existing door, the weight of the ballistic shielding is cut in half making it capable of installation by a single maintenance person, and the cost of the shielding is significantly reduced. Moreover, by using lightweight (thinner) ballistic material, the added weight will not fatigue the existing door, nor will the shielding protection provided be exorbitantly expensive for schools, offices, or the like. The use of lightweight (thinner) ballistic material, while not surrendering ballistic integrity for the door, is possible by always placing the ballistic material on the non-threat side of the door. This enables the solid core wood door to assist with and perform some of the work if stopping bullets.
U.S. Pat. No. 9,243,445 entitled “Protective Window Shutter,” issued on Jan. 26, 2016, to inventor Stephen Beaudoin. Here, a protective window shutter is designed to cover and uncover a door mounted “peek through” metal framed window. The shutter is made up of two shutter sections, rotatable in relation to each other. The first shutter section is secured adjacent to the window's metal frame and the second shutter section is rotatable from a first position in which the two sections are folded on each other, to a second position in which the second section is extended out from the first section, over the window. The shutter sections are maintained in the closed position by the attraction of metal strike plates on the first shutter section and corresponding magnets encased within the second shutter. The second section is maintained over the window by the attraction of the magnets to the window's metal framing. The shutter sections are made of high strength, lightweight PVC or like material.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2008/0263958 was published on Oct. 30, 2008, disclosing a “Classroom Fortification System.” Inventor Frederick Can Edson conceptualized a device and method for preventing entry into a room having an upper window such as a school classroom door. Specifically, the device is an entry resistant material positioned on the lower part of the inside of the classroom door which can be moved into position over the inside of the classroom door window and prevent or resist entry into the window and optionally restrict viewing into the classroom.
U.S. Pat. No. 9,644,408 for a “Method and Device for Barricading a Door,” as issued on May 9, 2017, provides for a barricade device and a method of barricading a door, each conceptualized by inventor Michael Presutti. More specifically, the device and method may be used to barricade a door, and thereby prevent an intruder from entering a sheltering space, such as a classroom, storeroom, or hallway. The barricade-device may have a pivotable stop-device that is pivotable from a location adjacent to a door. The pivot-location may be at an elevation that is lower than a door handle on the door. The stop-device may be pivotable from a reserve-position to a stop-position. In the reserve-position, the stop-device does not barricade the door. In the barricade-position, the stop-device barricades the door.
U.S. Pat. No. 9,145,729 issued on Sep. 29, 2015 to assignee DAW Technologies, LLC for “Classroom Ballistic Barriers.” Inventor Peter J. Spransy conceptualized a classroom barrier comprising a sliding panel or hinged panel designed to block a classroom door or window opening in certain emergency situations such as the presence of an armed assailant. The barrier is locked from the inside with no chance for it to be unlocked from the exterior. The classroom barrier is simple to operate, bullet resistant, and impenetrable for some predetermined length of time.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2015/0215755 for a “School-Wide Lockdown and Emergency Communication System” was published on Jul. 30, 2015 in relation to the system of inventor Joseph Bekanich. Here, disclosed is a multi-format emergency communication service for a school, office or home which allows for a non-law enforcement person to send a pre-defined location-based emergency digital message through a graphic user interface to a 911 emergency dispatcher or law enforcement individual and concurrently connect to the same 911 emergency dispatcher or law enforcement individual through a secure 2-way audio/video interface and messaging service. Additionally, a specially configured lockdown system/hardware will work in concert with the aforementioned emergency communication methods to lockdown and secure the door(s), window(s) or entry points at the said emergency location. More specifically, claimed is a hardware-implemented lockdown system that comprises a door bar system which secures or lockdown one or more doors, windows or entry points from entry during an emergency or crisis.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2017/0191306, entitled “Removable Ballistic-Resistant Door Barricade,” published on Jul. 6, 2017, disclosing the door barricade of inventors Alex J. Falesch, Ryan Walsh, and Christopher LeClair. Here, provided is a door barricade configured to secure a door from an outside threat can include a ridged bulletproof plate. The door barricade can be connected to the door via a fastener. In some embodiments, the fastener is an L-bracket. In other embodiments, the fastener is a ballistic nylon mechanism. The door barricade can also include at least one crossbar and at least one foot to help prevent the door from being forced open. The door barricade can also include a carrying handle to allow for easier deployment of the barricade. In some embodiments, the plate can include a door handle notch that can be covered with a door handle cover. In other or the same embodiments, a door skirt is present. In some embodiments, side panels are attached to the barricade via mounting brackets.
Lastly, U.S. Pat. No. 8,850,949 was issued on Oct. 7, 2014 to inventor Lois A. Lopez for a “Safety Door for Classrooms and the Like.” The '949 Patent discloses a door safety shield that completely overlies a door having a frame and a doorknob, replaceabley and slidably attaches to the frame of the door and not the door so as to eliminate damage to the door and prevents unauthorized opening of the door. The door safety shield includes a sheet and bolt assemblies. The sheet completely overlies the door. The bolt assemblies are affixed to the sheet, replaceabley and slidably attach to the frame of the door and not the door so as to eliminate the damage to the door and prevent the unauthorized opening of the door.
While the above discussed approaches may be beneficial in certain circumstances, there exists a need for an easy-to-operate, effective system of retrofitting classroom doors with a protective shield to restrict physical access of a potential criminal to the people in the classroom.